


you're pretty (your face is a work of art)

by idontshaveforsher_yesyoudo



Series: the queer and wondrous life of peter parker [4]
Category: Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: CAN BE READ INDIVUDUALLY, F/M, Fluff, Getting Together, M/M, Multi, Pansexual Peter Parker, Peter Parker-centric, inspired by mj calling peter pretty, kids in love, u dont have to read the rest of the series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-04
Updated: 2019-02-04
Packaged: 2019-10-22 08:34:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,101
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17659376
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/idontshaveforsher_yesyoudo/pseuds/idontshaveforsher_yesyoudo
Summary: Peter likes looking pretty and wearing makeup. Ned and MJ like Peter (and his makeup).





	you're pretty (your face is a work of art)

**Author's Note:**

> hi this was inspired by MJ calling peter pretty in the new trailer for 'far from home'
> 
> if there's any mistakes pls tell me !! feedback always much appreciated
> 
> title from a song called Ugly Heart by GRL, which isn't abt a particularily nice person but a few lines fit peter, I think

 

_"Okay, you're pretty_  
_Your face is a work of art_  
_Your smile could light up New York City after dark"_

_-Ugly Heart by GRL_

 

**Peter is seven** and his aunt and him have a ritual.

Every once in a while, his parents have a ‘date night’ and he stays at her and Ben’s place. They watch Disney movies and paint their nails with all the different nail polishes that have accumulated in May’s bathroom over the years. Peter likes the hot pink shade the best because it looks like Aurora’s dress and Aurora is his favorite princess. May loves the pastel blue one even though it always ends up smudged when Peter tries to paint it on. May is way better than him at painting nails, but she tells him that it’s because she’s had years to practice.

After those weekends, he goes to school on Monday morning with his nails painted soft purple or bright yellow or pastel green and he’s so excited to show them off because they’re pretty and he likes pretty things.

The girls always admire his pretty nails when he shows them off and his best friend Ned thinks that they look really cool and even Miss Davids, his teacher, compliments him on his pretty nails.

Then his second year at school begins and Peter is eight and he paints his nails himself for the first day of school, hot pink like Aurora’s dress and only the tiniest bit smudged. But when he arrives at school the next morning, a rude kid called Flash looks at them and laughs.

“Look at Peter, he still paints his nails! Don’t you know that that only girls do that? Are you a girl, Peter?”

And suddenly all the other boys are laughing and shouting, “Peter is a girl! Peter is a girl!” and Peter feels tears well up in his eyes.

When he comes home that evening he takes off the nail polish even though Ned tells him he still thinks it’s cool.

 

* * *

 

**Peter is ten** and his parents just died – went to heaven, aunt May and all the other adults tell him, but Peter doesn’t care, because his mom and his dad aren’t in here with him anymore and nothing can make him feel better about it.

A week after the funeral he and Ben and May go to his old apartment to pack up his things and decide what of his parents’ belongings they want to keep. It’s overwhelming to be there again and Peter spends an hour just walking around the apartment, looking at all the things that his parents left.

He finally ends up in front of their closet and takes out one of his mom’s blouses and it still smells like her even though she’s gone.

May finds him a while later, cuddled up in one of his dad’s jackets and one of his mother’s dresses on their bed. She begins packing up all the clothes, but Peter stops her.

He picks out his dad’s favorite sweater and a few colorful blouses and skirts of his mom and packs them up in a separate box, along with his mom’s make-up bag and his dad’s cologne. He doesn’t know what he’ll use the things for, but he doesn’t want a stranger to have them.

 

* * *

 

**Peter is thirteen** and Flash has been teasing him all week about his high voice and calls him ‘Penis Parker’ and nothing that Ned says can help.

He goes home and digs deep in the back of his closet until he finds a dusty box that hasn’t been opened in three years. He stares at it for a long while, then takes a pair of scissors lying around and opens it.

The first thing he sees is a shimmering golden bottle and he tentatively spritzes some of his dad’s cologne into the room. He almost chokes on nothing as he inhales the smell and the overwhelming feeling of a void, of a hole in his life where something used to be fills him up, surrounds him.

He falls to his knees and feels the tears well up in his eyes, wipes them away angrily, sniffs. He leans forward to look into the box again.

The make-up bag contains a wide variety of things; a lot of lipsticks in different shades of red and pink, glittery eyeshadow, a bright blue eyeliner, a few nail polishes.

He hesitates, then opens one of the lipsticks, soft pink, and applies it in front of the mirror on his closet.

It’s creamy and makes his lips only slightly pinker than before and he – loves it.

He rummages through the box and finds a matching pink blouse and puts that on instead of his t-shirt. It’s slightly too big on him but the material is soft and airy, and he can almost remember how it used to feel when his mom hugged him, the same material brushing against his skin.

The box goes back to his closet a few hours later, but it doesn’t stay there for long.

Over the next months, one by one the clothes end up in Peter’s closet. He wears them around the apartment, sometimes even when Ned is around after school. The only thing he starts wearing outside of the apartment is his dad’s favorite tweed jacket, baggy on his shoulders but ever so comforting when he sits in class. Flash makes fun of him, of course, but Peter doesn’t care. It’s a little thing still left of his dad and he’ll be damned if he lets an asshole ruin it.

Ned finds the make-up bag one day and Peter wants to make a joke about it, to change the topic, but Ned grins at him and asks which color of lipstick is his favorite and if he can try it himself.

Peter and Ned spend a lot of afternoons in Peter’s room after that, trying to figure out the different make-up products, watching YouTube tutorials and painting each other’s faces with all the colors they can find.

 

* * *

 

**Peter is fourteen** and his whole world gets turned upside down.

Ben’s dead, he gets bitten by a spider, he goes to Germany to fight Captain America, everything is new and strange, and he is – well, stressed out, for the most part. And tired, and kind of empty inside.

One evening, he gets home and decides that it’s an evening for some self-care. He puts on the long blue dress with the frills that used to be his mom’s favorite and paints his eyelids golden and adds blush to his cheeks and a dark red lipstick.

May comes home from work to find him painting his nails purple. She smiles at the sight and sits down next to him with the boxes of take out she bought on her way to the apartment. They flick through the TV-channels until they find a Disney movie and paint each other’s nails and all of the turmoil in Peter’s head calms down for a few hours.

He takes the nail-polish off before he goes to school the next morning, but it doesn’t matter. He walks around all day with a soft smile on his lips anyway.

 

* * *

 

**Peter is** **fifteen** and he’s confused.

Confused because he’s sure he likes Liz for obvious reasons – she’s the prettiest girl at school and has the cutest smile and when she talks to him his stomach feels like a hundred butterflies.

But the other day he saw a picture of Harry Styles and his stomach did something similar, and then he watched Titanic with May and young Leonardo DiCaprio smiling with tousled hair made his insides feel like mush, and then there were a bunch of shirtless construction workers on his way to school and he almost walked into a wall.

The word ‘pansexual’ stands out somewhere amidst all the feelings, but he then everything goes down the hill again with Vulture. Liz moves away and he doesn’t think about it for a while until Ned and him are doing homework one evening and out of the blue, Ned blurts out:

“I think I’m gay.”

Peter’s head flies up to look at his best friend.

“Really?”

Ned bites his lip. His hand is twitching and all Peter wants to do is grab it and hold it tight and never let go. Which is a strange thought to have about your best friend.

“Yeah. Or, like, something like that? I know that I like guys, at least.”

Peter nods. He doesn’t really know what to say because his thoughts are racing at about a hundred miles a minute.

Ned rubs the back of his neck. “Is this weird? Do you think this is weird?”

“No!” Peter almost chokes trying to reply quick enough. “No, it’s not weird! Don’t worry.”

Ned exhales. “Okay. Because, like, you were so quiet, and I wasn’t sure if that’s a good or a bad thing, and I don’t want things to be weird between us, –” he stops abruptly when Peter reaches out to grab his hand.

Through Peter’s movement, they’re just a bit closer than before, and Peter’s thumb twitches where it lies on top of Ned’s hand. Before he can stop himself, he says, “can I try something? I just wanna see –”

He doesn’t get to finish his sentence because Ned presses their lips together.

They remain motionless for a moment – Peter counts one, two, three seconds, then, just as Ned starts pulling back again he realizes what’s going on and leans forward, tilts his head, kisses Ned properly.

They pull away few moments later.

Ned giggles and Peter feels his cheeks flush bright red. He bites his lower lip and looks down at his lap. Grins.

“Well, that’s a few things cleared up.”

Ned is still giggling, his eyes crinkling. “Like what?”

Peter looks at him through his lashes and leans forward to peck his lips. “Like that I’m definitely into guys. _And_ into you.”

Ned huffs out a laugh. “Yeah, same.” He giggles again, then asks, “So, like, is this gonna be something more?”

Peter purses his lips in thought trying to hide his grin, tilts his head a bit as he inspects Ned. “Not sure…”

“Oh, fuck off.”

With one swift movement, Ned is tackled to the ground and Peter stares at his face from above him with a smile. “Nah. I’m staying.”

As Ned pulls him in for a kiss, he murmurs, “I sure hope you are.”

 

* * *

 

**Peter is sixteen** and has a lovely boyfriend and hangs out with MJ a lot and it’s only a matter of time until they all hang out at Peter’s. He hesitates for a moment once they’re at the apartment because this is a clash of two sides of him. But then he figures that it’s almost a ritual by now and that he really doesn’t think that MJ, of all people, will have a problem with his feminine side.

So he pulls his shirt as soon as they get to his room and ignores Ned telling MJ where to put her stuff and where to sit so she can quiz them on decathlon things. Instead, he focuses on his closet and picks out a yellow blouse with red flowers on that May got him for his birthday last year. He can feel MJ’s eyes in his back – and Ned’s, but that doesn’t count because Ned is his boyfriend and has back-staring privileges.

He searches through the stuff on his desk until he finds his favorite pink lipstick and applies it in the mirror, then turns to face the other two, settling down on the floor next to them.

MJ whistles under her breath. “Damn, Parker, you clean up nicely.”

Ned grins at him and Peter feels his cheeks redden. “Thanks, MJ.”

She smiles one of her rare smiles and Peter bites his lip.

 

* * *

 

The problem is the following:

Peter loves Ned to the moon and back. No ifs, ands or buts. He’s funny and sweet and pretty as fuck and Peter hopes they never break up.

He just thinks that MJ is really pretty as well, likes her messy hair and her snark and her passion for books, and it kind of makes him feel like shit.

Ned knows that he is pansexual, but there’s a big difference between knowing that your boyfriend could technically find girls attractive and finding out that he is actually crushing on one. Peter thinks that Ned wouldn’t like it all too much if he found out that he is secretly pining after one of their best friends.

Peter keeps it to himself, but it’s hard. One evening, after he spent way too much time at the library staring at MJ instead of working because he really liked the way her new sweater looked on her, Ned sits him down on his bed.

“So,” he says. “You like MJ.”

Peter stutters, tries to deny it but Ned interrupts him. “I know you do, Pete.”

Peter looks down to the floor because he can’t stand it to look at Ned at the moment. “I’m so sorry, Ned. I didn’t do it on purpose, I promise, and I really still love you as much as always, and I don’t know what to – “

Ned interrupts him again. “Peter, calm down. I’m not mad. In fact, I actually saw this coming.”

Peter frowns. _What?_ He looks up to see Ned smiling softly at him.

“Peter, I know you have way too big a heart to only love one person. So what? I don’t doubt for a second that you love me less just because you like MJ. I just don’t want you to feel like you have to hide your feelings on my behalf.”

Peter still doesn’t get what’s going on. “So, what do you want me to do?”

Ned grins and, despite the situation, Peter grins back in reflex. “First, I expect you to whine about your crush for about an hour. Then, we’re gonna plan how you can get MJ to date you. If that works, you date MJ and I date you and we’re all happy. How’s that sound?”

“I fucking love you, you know that?”

Ned grins even wider. “Of course I do.”

Peter pulls him down to sit next to him on the bed and kisses him thoroughly.

Before kisses get more heated, Ned whispers, “can you put on some dark lipstick and we make out all night?”

Peter pecks his face a few more times, entangles himself and searches his room for his mom’s – for _his_ makeup bag. “You really like it when I wear lipstick, don’t you?”

Ned groans and falls backwards onto Peter’s bed. “Oh honey, you don’t even _know_. Makes you look so pretty.”

 

* * *

 

In the end, getting Peter to date MJ is easier than either of them expected. All it takes a movie night and for Peter to wear red lipstick and one of his blouses, unbuttoned except for the bottom two buttons in true Harry Styles Style.

He lounges on the sofa as they watch Grease with Ned in the loveseat and MJ spread out on the carpet in front of the TV. When the movie is over, he’s still humming You’re the One That I Want and MJ grins up at him. Ned nudges his foot and raises an eyebrow and Peter grins.

“Hey, MJ, let’s do that dance.”

He pulls her on her feet and hums the melody as they try to figure out the backwards-forwards movement, which way harder than it looks when John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John do it. Peter’s hands are on MJ’s hips and hers are on his shoulders and Ned is laughing at their wobbly steps and MJ is giggling and it’s as easy as breathing, leaning forward and kissing MJ.

She freezes, and he counts one, two seconds until she kisses him back, hand finding its way in his hair. He grips her waist even tighter, pulling her closer.

Ned whoops next to them.

They break apart and MJ seems to get back to herself, eyes flicking back and forth between Ned and Peter.  She looks beautiful with her hair tousled, lips tinted red from Peter’s lipstick, brows furrowed. “What exactly is going on here?”

Peter grins.

 

* * *

 

**Peter is seventeen** and life is amazing. He has a lovely boyfriend and an amazing girlfriend and a cool job as Spider-Man/Stark Industries Intern and is doing quite well at school.

On their six-month anniversary as a triad Ned and MJ take him to the cinema and he puts on his favorite pink blouse and matching lipstick and paints his nails in the same color. Ned grins when he sees him and tells him he looks like a Disney princess and when Peter blushes MJ presses about a hundred kisses to his cheeks.

They watch a random comedy that MJ pretends to hate because it’s mostly very childish humor. Still, Peter hears her trying to suppress her laugh next to him at pretty much every joke. He graciously decides to ignore it and just hands her the popcorn.

They behave like typical teenagers do during at the cinema, kissing and whispering stupid commentary and trying to shove popcorn down each other’s shirts. Peter leaves pink marks of lipstick all over his boyfriend and girlfriend and they don’t mind at all.

After the movie, they all pile into one of the toilets, which, technically, is only for men, but MJ mutters something about not giving a shit about the gender binary and closes the door behind them. Peter distributes makeup wipes even though it pains him to see all the pink marks on the others’ cheeks and necks and lips to be removed. He, in turn, reapplies his lipstick and checks his hair, which, for some mysterious reason, is tangled and sticking up into all different sorts of ways.

When they finally leave the cinema it’s warm outside, the city still lit up by the setting sun. They decide to forgo the overheated, overcrowded Subway and to walk the four blocks to Peter’s apartment instead. There’s jokes and discussions about the movie and kisses exchanged and laughter, so much laughter that their stomachs ache and their cheeks seem to have been frozen into permanent smiles.

When the three of them snap a selfie against the pretty backdrop of the late summer evening, Peter vaguely notes that the sky has the same color as his lips. A cool breeze ruffles through MJ’s hair and over Ned’s new hat and across Peter’s fluttering blouse as they slowly make their way home.

 

 


End file.
